Bocce ball is a sport that is not very well known to the United States. It was found by English scientists on a painting in a tomb in Egypt.   Giussepi Garibaldi spread the love of bocce all throughout Italy.  Now, the news of Bocce is sweeping through the U.S. It is such a wonderful sport that we even have it at our own school! The team is led by Coach Tammy Segulin. The team is made up of these players; Ryan Watts, Angela Minichello, Alissa Hartman, Alyssa Wentz, and Suzanne Schmidt. The game of Bocce is a game of skill, strategy, and power. Every year the team has a tournament against the Bocce team of Kenston High. An interesting fact is that the coach for the team for Kenston is Mr. Segulin. There are a few rules to Bocce but they are not that hard to understand. You have your basic, you-only-have-so-many-tries-before-the-other-team-gets-the-turn rule. This means that you only have two times to try and throw the Palina before you have to give it to the other team to try and throw. The object of the game is to throw the Palina and then you and the other team have to get your teams color balls closest to it. If you get closest your team gets 1 point but if you have two balls that are the closest you get 2 points. You also get 2 points if your ball is touching the Palina.

When Mrs. Segulin was asked why she wanted to start a Bocce team, she responded, “My husband, Mr. Segulin, started a Bocce team at KenstonHigh School. We thought it would be fun to compete against each other, so in the 2010-11 school year, I recruited enough students to field 5 teams. One of our teams won that year!” Another question she was asked is what she thinks of the players this year. She stated, “Our players this year all have their own style – There are several players who have tremendous accuracy, and others who throw the ball defensively which moves the opponents ball out of point range. They have a great chance this year!”

Angela Minichello, team one captain says, “I joined Bocce because I am Italian and my father really wanted me to play. After the few times of playing, I really loved it.” Alissa Hartman says, “I really like to play Bocce Ball because it is a cool sport and I really enjoy being able to do something with my friends that we all enjoy.” The Bocce team is going to be facing Kenston on the 25^th of October. Everyone on the team is really excited and hopes to take back the 1^st place trophy that they lost last year.  They prepare every Friday and hope that their practice is going to pay off this year. They are set to play the tournament at the Kenston High Bocce courts. The physics class has also offered to build a court for our team. Hopefully next year!